Actress Joan Collins is guest starring on the Fran Drescher sitcom Happily Divorced Wednesday (28 November) playing a version of famous diva herself.

Collins, 79, did an interview with the gay US site Advocate.com to promote the episode but was determined to shy away from any political questions - including any about gay marriage.

Since she has been married five times, Collins was asked her thoughts on the so-called 'sanctity of marriage' which gay people are often accused of sullying.

'I’m not one of [those people],' Collins said. '... You’re getting into a political situation here, which I really don’t want to get involved in.'

But she continued anyway.

'Obviously, I have so many gay friends. Many of them are married, many of them have children, many of them are in civil partnerships. I also have many heterosexual friends who are in the same situations. It’s up to the individual.'

Happily Divorced is a TV Land sitcom now in its second season. Drescher stars as a woman whose ex-husband (John Michael Higgens) came out as gay at the end of their marriage but the two are forced to continue living together for economic reasons.

To play a fictionalized version of herself on the show, said the key is to exaggerate all the things I normally do.

'Flamboyant hand gestures, exaggerated line readings,' explained the Dynasty diva. 'Everything just a little bit bigger.'